Leftover rice and raw veggies are key ingredients of this easy meal.(ABC Life: Hetty McKinnon)
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Sometime last year, I started making fried rice on a baking tray.
And while a tray will never replace my wok, somehow this pared-back method of preparing fried rice became essential to my days in isolation, when cooking became both a welcome distraction and a daily challenge.
What I love about this recipe is that it’s hands off. You mix cold rice with vegetables, add some seasoning and stick it into a blaring hot oven. From there, the oven does the work for you.
Baked at high heat, some of the rice crisps up, while other pieces remain soft, creating a pleasing melange of textures.
It’s both magical and practical at the same time, and exactly the type of low impact-high intensity cooking we are all looking for nowadays.
The veg is flexible: The basic principle is to use vegetables that will roast and become tender in about 20 minutes. I have made this recipe many times and always with different veggies — brussels sprouts, broccoli, mushrooms, carrot, and corn are all excellent veg to use. Aim for about 500g of vegetables.
More ways to add heat: I often add kimchi to this mix but here I simply use sriracha, which adds an additional layer of spicy flavour.
Bonus substitutions: In place of the leek, you could use onion, French shallot or a couple cloves of garlic. Use brown rice if you have it. The eggs are optional, of course, but add a lovely heartiness to this meal.
Use spring greens like asparagus and sugar snap peas, or use any veggies that will bake in 20 minutes.(ABC Life: Hetty McKinnon)
Every month, we publish a new recipe from our New Australian Classics series. Hetty McKinnon is a food writer and cookbook author with a passion for vegetables. She’s the author of three cookbooks, Community, Neighbourhood, and Family. Originally from Sydney, Hetty is currently living with her family in Brooklyn, New York.
The Swedish restaurant chain, Max Burgers, launched the world’s first “climate positive” menu in June 2018. Climate positive is defined as “removing more climate gases than the value chain emits while at the same time reducing emissions in line with the 1.5 degree goal from Paris”.
Max Burgers ensures that each item on its menu is “climate positive”, taking into account all emissions from the “farmers land to the guests hand”, while even including the customer’s journey back and forth to the restaurant. This has required extensive efforts by the company to measure its entire footprint.
Each item on Max Burger’s menu includes a CO2e label to empower customers to better understand the climate impact of food and guide them towards options with a lower carbon footprint. The initiative builds on the company’s 2016 launch of plant based “green burgers”, which have a fraction of the climate impact of beef burgers.https://player.vimeo.com/video/414776169?autoplay=0
Key Facts
Max Burgers has undertaken a range of measures to cut emissions, including: switching to 100% wind power in all of its Swedish restaurants, being the first restaurant in the world to add “CO2e” labels to each menu item, and adopting 92% renewable packaging.
Sales from Max’s green range of burgers (lacto-ovo and fully plant based) increased by 1000% between 2015 to 2018. In 2022, the company is aiming to ensure that every second meal sold is made without beef.
Less than 1% of the food in Max’s kitchens is wasted and no palm oil is used in any of Max Burgers’ European operations.
Max Burgers has been recognized as “one of the world’s most innovative companies in 2019” by Fast Company’s “World Changing Ideas” series.
The Problem
According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), livestock contribute significantly to today’s most serious environmental problems. FAO estimates that cattle-rearing generates around 14% of all global warming greenhouse gases, as measured in CO2 equivalent – an amount similar to the emissions produced by the entire transport sector.
Currently, farmed animals occupy 30 – 50% of the ice-free land on Earth, at great expense to natural habitats and potential carbon sequestration. The livestock sector generates at least a seventh of global greenhouse gas emissions and consumes roughly one-third of all freshwater on earth.
The Solution
As a fast food restaurant chain, Max Burgers aims to be part of the solution when it comes to helping transform our global food system. The company’s green, plant-based burgers have a fraction of the climate impact of beef and have been commercially successful — with sales jumping by 1000% between 2015 to 2018 and increasing from around 2% to 20% of meals sold. By 2022, the company is aiming to ensure that every second meal sold is made without beef.
In addition to reducing emissions, Max Burgers follows the ISO 14021:2017 standard for carbon neutrality. However, instead of offsetting 100% of its emissions as required by the standard, from June 2018 onwards, Max Burgers has offset 110% of its entire value chain’s emissions, making all food served “climate positive”.
Helping the Planet
Since 2008, Max Burgers has offset its entire value chains emission through Plan Vivo-certified tree-planting projects, which support smallholder agriculture and rural enterprise by providing local employment opportunities, as well as sustainable food and energy sources.
In the past decade, the company’s carbon offsetting programme has planted more than two million trees in Uganda, Malawi and Mozambique through the Plan-Vivo certification system — this is equivalent to covering 5,500 football fields with trees or removing 230,000 petrol cars from the road for one year.
Helping People
In 2008, Max Burgers became the first restaurant to CO2-label its entire menu to empower customers to make informed choices. This CO2e menu customers to understand the climate impact of beef burgers and guide then towards more sustainable options. By offering an extensive menu of plant-based “green” burgers, Max Burgers aims to entice customers towards a lower-emission, plant-based diet.
Spillover Effect
According to Sustainable Brand Index Max Burgers is a green industry leader in Sweden, which has compelled the company to join multiple dialogues within and outside the food industry (both in Sweden and internationally). Through these dialogues, Max Burgers has formed new alliances and encouraged other organizations and companies to adopt CO2e labelling to influence daily choices.
Maz Burgers also encourages other companies to become “Climate Positive” and advises them on how to do it. The company registers commitments from these new climate-positive companies on its new website, www.clipop.org. At least 10 companies have informed Max Burgers that they intend to become “climate positive” in 2019.
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Made on whole grain toast with mashed avocado, a runny egg and a few dashes of hot sauce – 5 ingredients, 5 minutes to make, it doesn’t get better than that!
I’m not much of a breakfast person, most mornings I usually grab a cup of coffee, a hard boiled egg and a piece of fruit, or whip up a smoothie. But lately, I’ve been obsessed with avocado toast for breakfast, especially when I have avocados in my fridge that need to be used up. It’s a simple, healthy breakfast when you need something delicious and fast. I also got Tommy and Karina on board, we all love avocado toast!!
To store unused ½ of avocado, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator. They also sell avocado keepers (affiliate link) that claim to keep them fresher longer.
Leave the pit in and get the wrap as close to the surface of the fruit as possible.
If browning occurs, gently scrape the exposed flesh with a butter knife and voila, beautiful green avocado lies within!
If you’re in a hurry, you can swap a pre-boiled egg for the sunny side up one.
AVOCADO TOAST VARIATIONS
No Eggs – don’t like eggs, leave them out!
Salmon – add smoked salmon for added protein.
Poached Eggs – swap the sunny side egg for poached and top with microgreens.
Scrambled Eggs – swap the sunny side egg for scrambled and top with some salsa.
Hard Boiled Eggs – swap the sunny side egg for hard boiled eggs and add tomato and scallions.
Add “Everything but the bagel” seasoning on top.
Guacamole – Swap the avocado for guacamole (I do this when I have leftover) for a Mexican avocado toast.
Sliced – Don’t like your avocado mashed, slice it!
Because every morning needs to start off with a bang! And these Granola & Yogurt Bowls do just that. So yummy, so delicious, and they each only take about 5 minutes to make!
Watch how to make these Granola & Yogurt Bowls in 4 different ways!
Granola & Yogurt Bowls (4 Ways)
Personally, I believe that breakfast should be fun, delicious, and insanely nutritious. It’s your kickstart for the day! And, I mean, you guys know me. I’m a breakfast FANATIC.
Every night when I go to bed, I’m already excited for breakfast in the morning. It is my absolute favorite! On the weekends I make a breakfast/brunch treat like these Pecan Pie Pancakes, Gingerbread French Toast, or maybe even Maple Pecan Doughnuts. On weekdays, however, I quickly throw together these Granola & Yogurt Bowls. Not only are they delicious, but they provide vitamins, calcium, protein, healthy carbs, and healthy fats that our bodies desperately need each and every day. Talk about a balanced and delicious breakfast!
Here are 4 ways to create these Granola & Yogurt Bowls!
Here’s a tip that I’ve recently learned about creating a balanced breakfast bowl (or really any healthy meal): Put as much colorful fruit in there as possible, even if that means using less of each item. Instead of one serving of one type of fruit and one type of nut, create your breakfast bowl with lots of different types of colorful fruit and nuts/seeds! Some of the BEST Granola & Yogurt Bowl additions are:
Richly colored fruit, such as berries, oranges, cantaloupe, pomegranate, goji berries, kiwi, papaya, watermelon, and pineapple.
And so much more! You can get as creative as you wish with these Granola & Yogurt Bowls 🙂 And feel free to make them totally Inta worthy! I mean….it’s like food art. It IS food art. Ya with me? That’s what I attempt to do, anyway.
Because every morning needs to start off with a bang! And these Granola & Yogurt Bowls do just that. So yummy, so delicious, and they each only take about 5 minutes to make!
This site is a hommage to Pierre Joubert, one of the greatest illustrators ever lived. He was born in Paris (june 27, 1910 and died in La Rochelle on January 13, 2002). On Wikipedia is suggested that (quote): ¨He had a controversial site. He has been tarred with collaboration with the Nazis during Worldwar II¨. Documents, however, have proved that this is not true. Intimi have confirmed that.
Black Girl Thoughts addresses the dangers of racism in America, alongside the complacency and silence it brings...with a dash of my personal life experiences.
This site is a hommage to Pierre Joubert, one of the greatest illustrators ever lived. He was born in Paris (june 27, 1910 and died in La Rochelle on January 13, 2002). On Wikipedia is suggested that (quote): ¨He had a controversial site. He has been tarred with collaboration with the Nazis during Worldwar II¨. Documents, however, have proved that this is not true. Intimi have confirmed that.
Black Girl Thoughts addresses the dangers of racism in America, alongside the complacency and silence it brings...with a dash of my personal life experiences.
This site is a hommage to Pierre Joubert, one of the greatest illustrators ever lived. He was born in Paris (june 27, 1910 and died in La Rochelle on January 13, 2002). On Wikipedia is suggested that (quote): ¨He had a controversial site. He has been tarred with collaboration with the Nazis during Worldwar II¨. Documents, however, have proved that this is not true. Intimi have confirmed that.
Black Girl Thoughts addresses the dangers of racism in America, alongside the complacency and silence it brings...with a dash of my personal life experiences.
